Recent work, in this laboratory and elsewhere, has shown that isolated hepatocytes of laboratory animals, if properly handled, are as competent in respect to metabolic liver functions as the intact perfused organ. They are far more convenient as experimental material because they allow a large number of tests to be carried out on cells from the same liver. The aim is to test systematically the effects of ethanol on the following liver functions of which we have extensive experience for the normal animal: carbohydrate metabolism (gluconeogenesis from various substrates), lipid metabolism (lipid synthesis from glucose and lactate, control of fatty acid metabolism), nitrogen metabolism (urea synthesis, de novo purine synthesis, adenine nucleotide synthesis by salvage reactions, synthesis of non-essential amino acids), maintenance of physiological concentrations and turnover of cell constituents (potassium, sodium, ammonia, amino acids, adenine nucleotides). The objective is to gain information relevant to the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver diseases.